Production cutbacks (1 Viewer)

[thebritfarmer]

Hi guys,

I can't find that original post with the 'press release' about the cutbacks in it, does someone have the link or am I just blind?

Also, I can't find a list of this months retirements...is there a website that posts the full dispatches each month...I get it in an email from a site I am a member of but it often doesn't come out until at least a week into the month.

Cheers,

Chris

Here you go Chris

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?28480-K-amp-C-April-2011-Dispatch

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Hi guys,

I can't find that original post with the 'press release' about the cutbacks in it, does someone have the link or am I just blind?

Also, I can't find a list of this months retirements...is there a website that posts the full dispatches each month...I get it in an email from a site I am a member of but it often doesn't come out until at least a week into the month.

Cheers,

Chris

You can go to the K&C site and click on Dispatches.

https://www.kingandcountry.com/home.jsp

on this site Pete does a summary. The press release is in his summary

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?28480-K-amp-C-April-2011-Dispatch

Terry

 

[Rob]

Chris check out Peters April 2001 dispatches thread for cutbacks post

Rob

 

[Northgate Woods]

Gentlemen,
I have just re-read 60 posts on Andy's statement re the China issue. I would ask you to put yourself in Andy's shoes, a man who has given 27 odd years of love and passion (and yes before the you say it made a profit from the business) to the TS collecting scene. He has been at the fore front on the TS industry for 20 years now and gives his heart and soul to TS and always:
(1) delivers what he promises on a regular month basis,
(2) produces a wider variety and series of ranges than any competitor,
(3) advertises, promotes, attends shows and visit more collectots and dealers around the world than any of his competitors, and
(4) personally replies to hundreds of emails, faxes, letters and phonecalls than any other head of a company, often in considerable detail.
He know tries once again to keep you the collector updated on what is happening to K&C and might I add to all those other manufacturers. I purpose the thought to you. "What would do if there was no K&C"
I can tell you what would happen is that the price from all the other manufacturers would rise by about 15 to 20 percent in the next year.
Cheers Howard

 

[damian]

When CS came up with the idea of bringing out the same model but in three different versions everyone went on about what a great idea it was. So their recent King Tiger is available in Winter and Summer and in Zimmerit or without. So that is one model in four variations. SO it is not really a run of 350 but a run of 1400. Maybe you miss out on the winter one but by and large I have not heard of anyone not getting what they want. This is the same with the new 250 series. There are three versions of the beetle so it is a run of 750. Same strategy as CS.

When I think back on Trophy one of the reasons they went under towards the end was this idea of unlimited runs. Back in the day you could order any Trophy set you wanted that was in the catalogue. So towards the end I think sales got a bit sluggish. There was no rush to get anything. Now that Trophy is limited by the fact that the company does not exist sets are going for ridiculous amounts and everyone is getting all misty eyed about the old days.

 

[Cyber Field Marshall]

Well there goes my buying strategy! :redface2: No more picking stuff up that retires from time to time. From a business viewpoint K&C has my respect, understanding and admiration and their strategy seems reasonable and I sympathize with their plight. I completely understand the business reasons for the cutbacks and many Treefroggers have given good reasons for it. What is really interesting to me is how this China issue might be effecting the other manufacturers, their silence is deafening.
From a collectors point of view K&C is KILLING me! :rolleyes2: First it was an overall price increase on existing stock, then it was numerous and large price increases in general. Now I must endure the retirment of pieces on a rapid basis because not many will be made.....everything now is a SL! K&C is my favourite toy soldier manufacturer because they are leaders and innovators whose product to me is priced right for what you get in comparison to the rest of the industry. Sadly they are starting to imitate some of their competitors who I have criticized over the years for the way they do business by artifically limiting numbers and jacking up the prices of their products. I'm disappointed to see K&C quickly becoming a less "collector friendly" company than it used to be. For myself there is no way under this new era to collect what I want, many things will fall by the wayside and that is very discouraging folks...very discouraging indeed.

 

[jazzeum]

I don't think it will be bad as people think because as we all know a lot of sets sit on the dealers shelves for years.
Mark

I agree with Mark's observation and even if you wind out losing out on something it's not the end of the world. You just can't have everything.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

After reading the dispatch post I am a little confused. If I am reading correctly the entire run of a figure or vehicle is produced at on time. The reason I'm confused is a few months ago when the retro pricing raise was announced and debated on old inventory I remember reading that this is not the case. That figures are produced in smaller runs though out the production life of the figure or vehicle. This was the justification for raising prices because dealers were paying for restock at the new price.

 

[notascoldasbastogne]

You know i could care less. I dont look at the value side of collecting. Thats just me
I just started collecting KC WW2 and its been fun. Most of the fun is trying to find the retired items.

 

[marco55]

None of the makers are cheap.A single figure can run $28-$35 (except for FL)from any of them.They have all had price increases the last few years.
Mark

 

[nmrocks]

I don't know what he was referring to. ^&confuse It's been mentioned on this Forum that the largest production was 2000 for the Wittman Tiger? 1000 seems low given that SL (Strictly Limited) editions have been at or over the 1000 mark. Out of 16 SL models I am familiar with, four have been at 1250, eight have been at 999/1000 and only two recent ones at less.

Terry

Terry,
I think your right, I was mistaken on the number.

 

[jules118]

After reading the dispatch post I am a little confused. If I am reading correctly the entire run of a figure or vehicle is produced at on time. The reason I'm confused is a few months ago when the retro pricing raise was announced and debated on old inventory I remember reading that this is not the case. That figures are produced in smaller runs though out the production life of the figure or vehicle. This was the justification for raising prices because dealers were paying for restock at the new price.

Yes, that's the point I was trying to make with my previous post. A lot of the discussion has been focused on the costs associated with warehousing 'older' stock where sales may have started to slow down somewhat. But, remember the BIG debate/discussion that occurred towards the end of last year when K&C announced the price increases for older stock because it cost more to manufacture now than they did when released? That indicates that the entire run is not made at the outset. Also evidenced by the fact that when I have sometimes tried to order items from K&C in HK I have received a message that the item was not currently available but stock would be available again in month X.

My guess is that not much has actually changed apart from that after a certain point in time (possibly earlier than before), when stocks run down they may consider whether there will be sufficient demand to produce another batch. If not, it's just retired. Probably not much different from how things are now really, hence my comment about it being a marketing strategy. It advises us of the situation, but in a way that we may think that if we don't buy the items much sooner rather than later we will miss out altogether. It also paves the way for retirement announcements to happen much sooner after the release date than what we have previously expected.

Don't believe the hype, the sky is not falling

 

[Alex]

I don't think that this is a marketing ploy at all... But only sign that K&C finances are not going well at all... They HAD to raise the price on existing stock and now they HAVE to reduce their production ... It's not like they have a choice...
Those 35$ figure will be priced at 40$ next year and very very soon around 50$ a figure... the other china based companies will and are doing the same.. FL had to do it also.. (the newest highlanders are 5$ more than the older ones)...

china based toy soldiers companies will have some tough time surviving in the nest decade. for me 50 to 60$ is my maximum for a 54 mm a mass produced figure.. after that i will only buy custom work..

Alex

 

[breslau]

The main concern I have with production cuts concerns my policy of only purchasing some figures at retirement. This is now too risky given limited numbers may sell-out much quicker and there will be no further stock made.

I'm also concerned about the number of new issues. If K&C and other TS companies are reducing the volume of figures released because of limited production facilities/skilled workers/costs etc. won't they have the same problem getting production time to make new TS figures?

 

[HAWKEYE]

this is a tough call as i understand why kc is doing this. Many collectors who want to collect a range may miss a few figures/sets and just quit buying that range out of fustration.jenkins does le and it seems that there is enough for everybody but kc's customer base is probably much broader.time will tell but everything will work out one way or another.it always does.
Mark

i for one can personally vouch for this reasoning about dropping a range because you have missed things. Good point mark

 

[Rutledge]

I don't think that this is a marketing ploy at all... But only sign that K&C finances are not going well at all... They HAD to raise the price on existing stock and now they HAVE to reduce their production ... It's not like they have a choice...
Those 35$ figure will be priced at 40$ next year and very very soon around 50$ a figure... the other china based companies will and are doing the same.. FL had to do it also.. (the newest highlanders are 5$ more than the older ones)...

china based toy soldiers companies will have some tough time surviving in the nest decade. for me 50 to 60$ is my maximum for a 54 mm a mass produced figure.. after that i will only buy custom work..

Alex

I dont know what KC finances look like, but I agree they are probably facing difficult market conditions. More competitors, higher production costs, a still lagging worldwide economy, less disposable income, all are factors. The only thing that surprises me is this (kind of) announcement didnt come sooner.

China's skilled workers are demanding higher wages. Its what naturally happens as an economy develops beyond the early stages. Their challenge will be what to do once their labor wages rise to where their cost advantage is eliminated. China is an export oriented economy, and low wages are a key element of that strategy. China will have to find a way to create sustainable internal consumer demand, among a bunch of consumers who are notoriously frugal, to make up for reduced exports.

Other countries with low labor costs could conceivably step in and supplant China, but the world is so global now its not easily done.

Quite the conundrum: Greater economic growth leads to more demand, but eventually drives costs and prices up to unsustainable levels. The middle ground evaporates and all thats left is the low end and high end, except for a few niche players. The FL model of direct distribution may be the answer. That would be my "prediction" for the long run.

 

[jazzeum]

Jules,

Regardless, they still have warehousing costs and that is overhead. As mentioned, people go for the new things, which means you're still holding older production. Considering the amount of items they make, for a small company (and in the realm of things they are still a small company, no insult intended), that is a big nut to chew. They probably follow FIFO from an accounting point of view (First In First Out) but it's probably turning into first in, last out, which is probably where they don't want to be. You resolve that by reducing production; less items, less cost.

 

[HAWKEYE]

who really knows. I think k&c has lost market share.
I don't think it is a cynical ploy, but a sound business strategy necessary to adapt to a changed market place. If k&c production is open ended with large volumes of 1000+ for each figure or afv, then there is no rush to buy it. This isn't a big problem if k&c is the only player. It is a big problem if there are 5 other companies with limited production volumes whose popular models will sell out fast (cs, tgm, jj and fl, britains). If collectors get into a comfort level of putting off k&c purchases so they can buy models from other firms first, at worst they may never buy them, and at best leave dealers with too much inventory. Lower production over a shorter lifecycle for a k&c item will force collectors to chose between each of the manufacturers including k&c. Fewer new models each month will take some pressure off of historical research and quality control. This could actually make k&c more competitive.

Terry

very interesting terry, i tend to agree with you. But all this will do one thing for me. I am a completionist that is fast running out of room and money and this will absolutley break me of that habit. Now if this ends up making me lose interest like happened with the sports card industry than so be it. I will get a pair of glasses and go back to painting 20mm figures and tanks. I do think it will help prop up resale prices though, which regardless of what people say is a big part of collecting kc

 

[HAWKEYE]

gentlemen,
i have just re-read 60 posts on andy's statement re the china issue. I would ask you to put yourself in andy's shoes, a man who has given 27 odd years of love and passion (and yes before the you say it made a profit from the business) to the ts collecting scene. He has been at the fore front on the ts industry for 20 years now and gives his heart and soul to ts and always:
(1) delivers what he promises on a regular month basis,
(2) produces a wider variety and series of ranges than any competitor,
(3) advertises, promotes, attends shows and visit more collectots and dealers around the world than any of his competitors, and
(4) personally replies to hundreds of emails, faxes, letters and phonecalls than any other head of a company, often in considerable detail.
He know tries once again to keep you the collector updated on what is happening to k&c and might i add to all those other manufacturers. I purpose the thought to you. "what would do if there was no k&c"
i can tell you what would happen is that the price from all the other manufacturers would rise by about 15 to 20 percent in the next year.
Cheers howard

howard, great points. Don't get me wrong on kc. I love the stuff. Its like waking up on christmas morning every month. There the best company out there. My problem is room and dealing with not being able to get everything i want. Plus i have 10, 12yr old girls to finance thru school and such. I just have to learn how to pick and choose or learn how to pick the correct 6 numbers in the lotto. Take care hawkeye

 

[GJB22]

If prices continue to increase, whats the point of producing soldiers in china? If the prices don't level out, I would hope KC would be smart enough to find somewhere else to produce their products.